Cellular Injection by CNT: Molecular Dynamics Study

Cellular Injection by CNT: Molecular Dynamics Study

Determination of an injection condition which is minimally invasive to the cell membrane is of the great importance in drug and gene delivery. For this purpose, a series of molecular dynamics simulations (MD) were conducted to study the penetration of a carbon nanotube into a cell membrane under various injection velocities, CNT tilt angles and chirality parameters. The temperature was maintained constant at physiological temperature T=310 K and also the pressure at 1 bar. The force and stress exerted on the nanotube, deformation of the lipid bilayer, and strain of the CNT atoms were inspected during the simulations. We found out that the lower velocity of the nanotube results in successfully entering the membrane with minimum disruption in the CNT and the lipid bilayer, and also, CNT’s chirality affects the results distinctly. Moreover, it was shown that the tilt angle of the CNT influences the nanotube’s buckling and destroying the membrane structure during injection process.